By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Check out this sprawling old-school junkyard in Virginia–nearly 1000 relics from the 30′s through the 80′s, quietly returning to the Earth. It’s the kind of spectacle that’s both depressing and captivating–there are some truly rare and interesting cars there, and no one has bothered to pull them out of the weeds for a resto, or even to give them the smallest measure of shelter from the elements. At the same time, it’s better that hulk farms like this one continue to exist, rather than crush their inventory flat and ship the scrap to China to build cheap tin-can commuter pods. After all, there are some pretty straight panels in amongst all that junk that someone might need to complete their own project. More pics below the jump, and check out the entire thread at VWVortex.

Continue reading "Rust In Peace" »

By Katherine Helmetag

AKA atomicalex

Let’s face it: SEMA is all about swag. So far, the swag competition has a clear winner: Sears Craftsman. We got these cool tool bags full of Craftsman stuff—tshirt, work gloves, sticker, cards, and best of all, a cap wrench. Yes, you know what that is for. Jen and I agree—the toolbags are going to be perfect for our junkyard forays. Thank you, Mr. Craftsman!

I went to the Pull A Part up in Arlington, and while I didn’t find anything for my cars, I got to check out some pretty interesting rides. This poor little Corvair, the junkyard staff told me, was a drug seizure—it came in with syringes and baggies under the seat and a trunk full of Snap On tools. One of the perks of working at this yard is that whoever processes the car gets to keep anything they find in it, so some guy walked off with a whole load of Snap On. No word on who got to keep all the smack, though. See more junkyard pics after the jump.

How about you? What did you do this weekend?

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NASCAR driver Carl Edwards told me about Back 40 Racing when I chatted with him at Dover this weekend—basically, it’s an informal field-racing series in which competitors run cars they’ve pulled out of the junkyard. Carl was more involved in Back 40 before full-time racing duties took over—it bears the same name as his record label—but apparently, he still goes out racing with them once in awhile. And yeah, running junker cars through back fields against the current Sprint Cup Series points leader sounds like my idea of a total blast! Check out video of a typical Back 40 lap, below.

Ever wonder what happens to those poor junk cars that get run over in piles at the monster truck shows? At least a handful of them end up at Fleury Auto & Truck Parts in Everett, the sad collateral damage of some county-fair spectacle. I ran across these guys yesterday, completely randomly—a whole row of squashed cars, spray-bombed yellow and Rustoleum red. The vans seemed to have escaped the biggest jumps—though check out the gigantic tire track up the side of the Ford—while a bunch of 90′s econoboxes bore the brunt of what clearly an orgy of destruction. I spotted an Escort, a Subaru, a Cavalier wagon, and a Mitsubishi Galant—and the last two I could only identify because their badges had been left on. Well: at least now they won’t have to go in the crusher. More grisly pics after the jump.

Continue reading "The Horror: Monster-Truck Victims In The Junkayrd" »

It’s hard to see why someone would put so much care and work into a car right before junking it—something tells me that there’s a story behind this LeBaron’s sad fate, because painting your car like this is anything but cheap. The car is located at Lynnwood Pull A Part just north of Seattle—and the really terrible thing is that Washington is one of those states where cars can’t be bought off the yard once they’ve been junked, so this mint turbo LeBaron is just going to have to sit here in the rain until it gets crushed. More junkyard pics after the jump.

Continue reading "Turbo LeBaron Convertible With Color-Change Paint… In the Junkyard!" »

I took a junk-cation, packing up my Escort with John and a bunch of tools and heading up north to my new favorite yard, Pick A Part in Chilliwack, BC. We spent the whole weekend at the yard—my sister and her boyfriend joined us on Saturday—gutting this Escort wagon from the seatbelts to the headliner for a full interior swap on my diesel, and stripping various body, trim and engine parts from both this car and the Eagles. Meanwhile, the staff provided free bottled ice water to their customers on what felt like the two hottest days of the summer, and John even looks like he might finally be getting hooked up with some crash-repair panels for his Jag thanks to the Pick’s ultra-resourceful Shantel. More Pick A Part pics after the jump!

How about you? What did you do this weekend?

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I’ve been up in Canada for the last few days visiting with my dad, and since car-craziness is genetic, it didn’t take much for me to persuade my old man to come check out one of my favorite Canadian junkyards. I don’t know how I’ve managed to neglect Pick A Part, this little gem of a yard less than an hour’s drive east of Vancouver, but I think it’s been vastly improved in the last five years or so. For one thing, its online vehicle search is the most user-friendly I’ve ever seen for a junkyard: not only can you search by model and year, but it’ll even tell you what engine each car has and what color the body is. Once you’re there, they don’t ding you with admission or wagon-rental fees, but instead hand you a printout listing the rows and numbers of the cars you’ve asked about so you can locate ‘em. There’s a tool bin from which anyone can borrow whatever it is they’ve forgotten (just bring it back: honor system), and the staff is similarly generous with things like engine hoists (“just take it”). It’s not like it’s the world’s hugest yard, but it’s got mad variety and is meticulously organized, with a lot of older iron: the overall character of this yard seems more 70′s/80′s than 90′s, though there’s a ton of late-model stuff as well. The verdict: If you live anywhere in the Pacific Northwest or Western Canada and you have not yet been to Pick A Part in Chilliwack, this yard is absolutely worth traveling for, especially since you know what’s going to be there when you arrive. I got a fender and bumper for my diesel Escort, and I’m going to be driving up again in the near future to strip their Eagles. See more junkyard pics after the jump!

Continue reading "Great Pickin’s in Chilliwack, BC" »

This morning I ran across this very uplifting article in the Detroit News, suggesting that our country’s self-service junkyards are turning a decent profit amidst the generally dismal economic climate. That’s really good to hear, because I was under the impression that a lot of the pull-a-parts and the u-pull-its were struggling, and that high scrap prices were tempting them to crush out all their inventory (i.e., old cars) simply to make ends meet. However, the Detroit article argues that it’s precisely the soaring scrap-metal prices that are keeping some yards profitable, and making it possible for them to continue to provide their u-pull services. (They also refer to DIY junkyards as a "trend"—what, like oxygen bars?—so I’m not sure I entirely trust that they know what they’re talking about). Reportedly, even keeping the junk cars out on the lot to get picked over, which you’d think would be a money-sink for the yards, is paying for itself: one owner says that even weird vehicles like hearses get nearly picked clean. I’d also guess that foot-traffic at these businesses is increasing as the cash-strapped masses, even people who wouldn’t normally visit a junkyard, look for cheaper sources for car parts. I’ve recently patronized junkyards in Seattle, Alabama and Pennsylvania, where business seems to be generally pretty solid, though I was disappointed by the dearth of 80′s metal at Harry’s, which isn’t the way it was even a couple of years ago. What about you guys who go to self-service yards—how’s your local pull-a-part doing? Have you noticed any changes?

If what you’re into is junk cars as far as the eye can see, Harry’s U-Pull-It in Hazleton, PA is the place you need to go. It’s the biggest self-serve junkyard in the world, and it’s legendary among car people in the Northeast. When I lived in upstate New York, I’d try to make the Harry’s pilgrimmage at least once or twice a year, and it was always worth it. This time around, with half a day to kill following the Carlisle All-Ford Nationals, I decided to take a trip up to Harry’s to make sure my favorite junkyard was still the heaven I remembered it to be. And frankly, things have changed a little. See more…

Continue reading "Harry's U-Pull-It: The Mother Of All Junkyards" »